TODAY Show Warns: Don't Use Keratin Straightening Treatments

Here in the Beauty Lab at the Good Housekeeping Research Institute, we've been on top of the super-popular Keratin/Brazilian Straightening trend and the serious risks associated with it. In our March issue, we revealed that four major brands of Keratin Straightening contained significant levels of the carcinogen formaldehyde. Since then, the dangers associated with these treatments have been all over the news, the FDA is being urged by politicians to ban the treatment, and OSHA issued a hazard warning about the product to salons across the country. The TODAY show covered the topic yesterday morning and the message to the audience, expounded by two different doctors, was clear — avoid these treatments. Both a dermatologist and TODAY's chief medical editor, Dr. Nancy Snyderman, explained that formaldehyde is a hazardous chemical and there's a reason we have such a natural response to the smell of it — it's dangerous and our bodies want to get away from it. If you've already tried this popular treatment (and I admit, I have), to quote Dr. Snyderman, "Don't do it again."